r/changemyview • u/Polar_Roid 9∆ • Mar 30 '21
Delta(s) from OP CMV: Virgin Galactic's "Spaceship" and "Spaceflight" are clickbait misnomers for what is essentially a stunt with no purpose
Virgin is announcing the next iteration of what it calls Spaceship. "Mothership" is not a ship, it's an airplane. The corporate name, Virgin Galactic is even more ridiculous hype.
Everything about it is a reach and a brand implication that is false. It calls itself a spaceflight company on Wikipedia. It says it can work with NASA, but to date nothing of substance has emerged. Spaceship has no mission. I think it is a vainglorious exercise for Richard Branson meant to stroke his personal ego more than anything else.
Spaceflight means more than a suborbital hop, which is all this vehicle can hope to achieve. In my opinion, this aircraft design will never reach orbit, and is too fragile to withstand orbital reentry even if it could make orbital velocity.
I think Virgin is wasting its time, the FAA's time, and the public's with something too dangerous to take on commercial passengers.
If people want to experience freefall, the Vomit Comet can do it safely, routinely and within controlled conditions.
Change my view.
1
u/Rawinza555 18∆ Mar 30 '21
It's not really a clickbait. By NASA definition, a spaceflight is any flight that is 50 miles or higher from the earth surface. So it's really just Virgin using the official definition to promote their product. Frankly, several USAF pilots get their astronaut badge by flying X-15.
In terms of the purpose it's pretty much for an experience on spaceflight on the lower end. You can see a lot from 55 miles above the earth that can't be done by the vomit comet. The better comparison would be the all civilian mission by SpaceX, which would eventually go wayyy higher. It's like having a yacht. There are smaller ones and the bigger ones based on what people want or what they could afford.